Summer Solstice at Parowan Gap

Along I-15 in southern Utah lies a small town named Parowan. Some miles west of the town is a remarkable landmark that today is called Parowan Gap. It is a 600' V-shaped crevice in the rocks where an ancient stream once traversed the land. The area has been inhabited or utilized by early Native Americans for nearly 12,000 years accordingly to archeological and geological research done in Utah. Scientists have found evidence of likely transient hunters who tracked the large, now-extinct animals of the late Pleistocene era such as mammoth and giant bison here.

As the area became warmer and dryer, new ways of providing for their needs had to be realized. These people practiced a more nomadic way of living through seasonal migration by following the resources as they became available. Below is the namesake "gap" in the valley through which a rural road now runs.

 

Parowan Gap 

Locals simply call it The Gap, but this 600-foot natural break in the rock is far more than a scenic pass. It is a living calendar, a sacred gathering place, and a vast stone archive shaped by the hands and observations of the Hopi, Paiute, and other Indigenous peoples who lived, traveled, and worshipped here long before roads, fences, or town names existed.

The surrounding cliffs and rocky formations in the area are replete with numerous ancient petroglyphs that researchers believe were created by the Fremont Indians (called Nungwy in Paiute). These Native Americans are closely related to the Hopi, Paiute, and other southwestern tribes. These early people were replaced by those that lived a hunter-gather lifestyle. The Paiute were often found living here when Mormon pioneers began to enter the area in the mid 1800's. Indeed, the Paiute people still live in the area today.

Along the rock walls of the Gap, visitors will find a remarkable open-air gallery: more than 1,500 petroglyphs across roughly 90 panels, each telling fragments of stories that span generations — migration, ceremony, survival, and an intimate relationship with the sky above.

Around a thousand years ago, Native American astronomers, members of the Parowan Fremont culture that inhabited the area around the Fremont River in Utah, noticed a remarkable quality of the site. It formed a natural “window” for measuring time and studying celestial objects. They transformed the existing topography into a 3.5-mile long, one-mile wide, and 600-foot-tall observation post. It was equipped with two technological instruments: an observatory cairn and petroglyphs. The cairn identifies precise positions for watching the sunrise or sunset on specific calendar cycle dates, like the summer and winter solstices. Contemporary archeoastronomers found that readings collected at these sites align perfectly with those deducted from contemporary mathematical calculations and precision telescopes.

The petroglyphs, or rock art, has since been decoded as scientific diagrams, maps, and calendars. Some of these petroglyphs mark sun shadows and produce calendars that divide the year into moon and sun cycles alike. Depicting dots, lines, ladder circles, triangles, trees, combs, serpents, etc., these petroglyphs indicate day, month, season, and year counts for the moon, sun, and star cycles. Map migration glyphs tie into calendar counts.

 

Today, archaeologists continue to study Parowan Gap not just as an art site, but as an astronomical and ceremonial landscape as the petroglyphs align precisely with solar and lunar cycles, marking solstices, equinoxes, and seasonal transitions critical to life in an arid environment.

This was not art for art’s sake. For the people who lived here, these markings were tools, a way to track time, predict weather, guide movement, and ensure survival. The calendar etched into the stone was as essential as water or shelter.

One of the most discussed features is the Zipper Glyph, long believed to function as a solar marker. From a distance, its shape echoes the form of the Gap itself — a reminder that landscape and symbol are inseparable here. Nearby petroglyphs depict lunar cycles, including quarter moons and full moons, reinforcing the site’s role as a celestial map.

                                                                   The Zipper Glyph 

During the summer solstice, something remarkable happens. As evening approaches, the sun appears to slide down the rock face, lingering briefly in a notch between the two mountain walls before disappearing from view. It is subtle, quiet, and powerful all at once — like a natural clock chiming the end of a season. For ancient peoples, this moment signaled change. A shift in time. A reminder that the year was turning. 

                                         The sunset on Summer Solstice at The Gap

Then there is the Overseer. If you look closely, you’ll notice an outcropping of rock that resembles a face watching over the Gap. At certain times of the year, the sun settles perfectly into the Overseer’s open mouth. As it sinks, the stone figure appears to swallow the sun — a dramatic and unforgettable signal that winter is coming.

 On rare and lucky nights, the same phenomenon happens with the moon.

                                 The Overseer swallows the moon at the Parowan Gap

Parowan Gap cannot be understood by isolating one glyph, one rock, or one moment in time. Its meaning lives in the relationship between everything: the land, the sky, the stories, and the people — past and present.

Standing in the Gap as the sun slips away or the moon aligns just right, it becomes clear: this is not just a historical site. It is a reminder that time was once measured not by clocks, but by light, shadow, and patience.

Today, the Parowan Heritage Foundation works in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management, the Paiute Tribe of Utah, the Hopi Tribe, archaeologists, and dedicated volunteers to protect and preserve this sacred site. Their work ensures that Parowan Gap remains a place of learning, respect, and wonder rather than exploitation. 

A few years ago, my wife and I were able to be at the Gap on the summer solstice and see the sun set into the notch of the gap on the longest day of the year.  It was almost spiritual, and we felt a sort of kinship with the earth, nature, and the remarkable people that discovered this place so very many centuries ago.  Here, the rocks remember. And if you slow down long enough, they just might teach you how to listen.

 

By Darrell Michaels and Elsie Sullivan 

End the War in Iran by Finishing the War

 

Twenty years ago this December, I experienced a severe heart anomaly and arrhythmia that caused me to pass out, thereby falling and subsequently smacking the back of my head on the Rite Aide pharmacy floor, where I was ironically standing in line to get my heart medication.  Well, I woke up later that evening with a concussion and not knowing where I was or what had happened.  This resulted in a few days stay in the hospital and a cardioversion of my heart back into normal rhythm. 

While imprisoned in the cardiac ward, I had many family members and friends stop by to wish me a speedy recovery and to help pass the time.  One of these friends was a fellow engineer I worked with.  Imran is from Pakistan and is a devout Muslim.  He is also a cherished friend who genuinely cares about others.  Indeed, as I sat there in the hospital bed, complaining of the lack of privacy, annoying nurses just trying to do their jobs, and the horrific food, he smiled and said that he couldn’t help with all of that, but he would see what he could do.  I laughed and didn’t think any more about it until about an hour later when he came back into my hospital cell… ummm… room, with a bag from Marie Callendar’s with what at that time seemed like the best meal I have ever had.  That is just the kind of friend Imran is – always looking for ways to express kindness towards others.

I have also had the privilege of befriending other folks who happened to be Muslim in my travels throughout the Middle East.  Indeed, my friend, Waiel, dropped everything to help when my grown daughter took a wrong trail and ended way out in the desert near Petra and outside of cell coverage.  Needless to say, I was very grateful to him as he found our daughter and her friend. 

Unlike the thinking of some ignorant people, just because someone is a Muslim, does not make him or her a bad or evil person, let alone a terrorist.  That could be said of most groups or categorizations of people.  There will always be detractors in even the best intentioned of organizations. That said, there are sadly many devotees of Islam that take the Quran’s Suras to conquer, convert, or kill those that are not Muslim as a holy obligation.

When it comes to the current recently enjoined war with the terrorist regime in Iran, we are dealing with a government composed of the IRGC, extremist mullahs, and other such personnel that see jihad or holy war against the West, particularly the Great Satan of American and the lesser Satan of Israel, as a sacred obligation.  It is only by bringing chaos, war, and death to America as per their chants of the same over the last fifty years, that they hope to bring about a world-wide apocalypse and the return of the twelfth Imam, who is a messianic figure to many in the Shiite Islam sect that is governing Iran.  They are honor-bound to convert, enslave, or kill all Kafir (infidels).    

 Now this may seem ludicrous to us in the West, but that is precisely part of the problem.  We are looking at this situation through a western mindset.  We are not looking at it from our enemy’s mindset.  It does not matter what we believe.  It only matters that the Iranian terrorists governing this amazing country believe this – to the death.  Further, death for them in jihad as a martyr guarantees them a place in paradise with Allah.  They do not fear death and revere life as we do in the west.  To negotiate with them with the assumption that they do is foolish in the extreme.

America and Israel have already eliminated the top tiers of the regime’s leadership, their air force, navy, missiles and means of production, and most of their command-and-control functions, and yet they still insist that they will have a nuclear bomb and are not willing to negotiate that away.  Why would this regime need a nuclear weapon STILL after all the carnage and decimation suffered?  Logic would dictate that it is only because they have every intention of using it against America and Israel.  Left to their own devices, they will do so.  This is not even a question. 

Obama and Biden’s ridiculous “negotiations” and JCPOA treaty while providing $1.7 billion in dollars to the largest state sponsor of terrorism was abjectly foolish at best and borderline treasonous at worst. They either foolishly believed in the veracity of the regime in their negotiations, despite their NEVER having lived up to any past agreements, or they simply did what was most politically expedient. 

The term “taqiyya” is the Islamic tactic of lies, deceit, and full-blown disinformation campaigns, specifically prescribed in the Quran and by generations of Islamic clerics as the preferred means of gaining the upper hand over an enemy, particularly in war.  Iran has considered themselves at war with us since the overthrow of the Shah of Iran 47 years ago.  They have no scruples in lying to us in negotiations to prolong the ceasefire and procure other strategic advantages.  This is what they did with Obama and the JCPOA.  They continued to enrich uranium despite vowing not to do so past certain limits.  Obama evidently did not care.

Now, I understand President Trump wanting to eliminate all options before re-engaging in war.  That is part of just war doctrine.  War has to be used as a final resort when all other paths have been eliminated, and only used in the service of a greater good, such as protecting innocent lives in the west and freeing the subjugated innocent Iranian citizens under the regime’s cruel governance. 

That said, negotiations with this ghoulish and evil regime are pointless and fruitless.  Unlike the rantings of many ignorant Americans, this was not a “war of choice” but an existential threat to our ally Israel, a nation the size of New Jersey, and to America itself.  If we had not intervened, Iran would have shortly possessed a nuclear weapon and the holy obligation to use it.  Unlike nations of the west, they could not be bargained with.  This would be a tool that would be used to fulfill their twisted version of Islamic prophecy.  Iran was already at war with America.  We finally, after nearly half a century of the killing of our people, responded to this provocation of war.

At this point, the Islamic terrorist regime governing Iran cannot be negotiated with to form a lasting peace.  Even if they proclaim otherwise, it is simply a taqiyya tactic used to lull us back into a falsely peaceful status quo.  Make no mistake though.  They will continue to reconstitute their nuclear weapons program regardless of any treaties made.  We MUST not give them another lifeline yet again.

It is because of this and after much research, thought, and prayer that I have come to the thoroughly considered opinion that President Trump needs to finish this war once and for all.  We need to remove all of the nuclear material in Iran’s possession and eliminate any of the regime that shows us any resistance.  Anything less will simply be little more than kicking the can of nuclear war down the road.

We should therefore use overwhelming asymmetrical force in capturing Kharg Island and the Iranian port there and reopen the Strait of Hormuz for unfettered freedom of navigation on international waterways for all peaceful nations yet again.  Further, we should send all necessary troops, technicians, air support, and logistics support necessary to retrieve all nuclear material from Iran.  We should further provide wireless internet access to the people of Iran and destroy the regime’s ability to block it so that the citizens know what is happening and perhaps foster a final uprising for their freedom.  This can be done technologically by several means.

Regardless, the end of this evil regime must come to an end and it is morally incumbent upon America to ensure that this comes to pass.  Untold innocent lives hang in the balance of this decision.  We cannot afford to get this one wrong or someday the unimaginable WILL HAPPEN.  This war must be finished for the sake of a lasting and true peace, and for the innocent Muslims living under the shadow of such dire oppression.

The Long-Awaited End of the Islamic Republic of Iran

 

My cousin was working in Iran in November of 1979 for Bell Helicopter.  On 11/4/1979, radical Shia Iranians stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran capturing 66 American hostages. My cousin was similarly held hostage in a Tehran hotel by these gun toting terrorists as they rounded up westerners in the country.  The birth of the radical Islamic theocracy was at hand.  With the help of  local friends, my cousin was able to make an escape from Iran in the back of a van, hiding beneath Persian rugs.  To this day, he has nightmares about the event.  Unfortunately, the hostages in the embassy were not as lucky, as they were held for 444 days and were only released due to Iranian trepidation as the new Reagan administration was ushered into office. 

Brutal governance, enforcement, and punishment under Sharia law as instructed by the new supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was now in effect, as their hatred for the west in general and Israel and the United States in particular would help to shape the Middle East and indeed the entire world for the next 47 years.

A few years later in 1983, Lebanon was deteriorating into civil war, with Iranian proxies right in the middle of the mess.  The UN sent a multi-national peace keeping force to the region in order to prevent things from further devolving.  Islamic militants funded and supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran in April of that year drove a truck bomb in front of the U.S. embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people, many of whom were Lebanese employees.  Emboldened by the lack of a significant response, on October 23, 1983 the Iranian proxy, Islamic Jihad, crashed the outer defenses and drove an even larger truck bomb into the Marine peacekeepers’ barracks at the Beirut airport utterly obliterating the building and killing 220 Marines, 18 sailors, 3 soldiers, and 6 civilians early on a Sunday morning.  In another coordinated attack at the same time, the French peacekeeping forces had their barracks similarly attacked killing 58 French soldiers.  President Reagan’s lack of a forceful and meaningful response is one of the few times I was sorely disappointed with his leadership.  I was a senior in high school that year and was already contemplating joining the military upon graduation.

In the years and decades to come, the evil Islamic Republic of Iran could always be found stoking chaos and killing those that the regime deemed enemies of their brutal regime.  Iran has been instrumental in providing weaponry, training, and funding for evil proxy organizations that were ghoulishly happy to do their bidding.  Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis in Yemen have long targeted Israel, most especially civilian targets in that tiny nation the size of New Jersey.  Of course, this culminated in the horrific Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on October 7^th, 2023 killing over 1200 people and taking 48 hostages, including Americans. 

Iran has also supported Islamic militias in Iraq and Afghanistan with weaponry and expertise in building IEDs and other such bombs to maim and kill American military personnel in the region. 

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been responsible for the deaths of untold thousands of Israelis, Americans, and other innocent people since their inception worldwide.  The evil regime has also killed thousands of its own people as they have risen up against the evils of the Ayatollah and his murderous thug enforcers.  By credible counts the latest massive uprising in January of this year of Iranian protesters resulted in the murder of more than 30,000 Iranian citizens.

President Trump, despite his faults, has worked tirelessly in the Middle East to bring peace.  He has been remarkably successful with historic triumphs as many countries have agreed to peace by signing on to the Abraham accords.  Iran has run counter to that desire for peace.

They have continued to build and improve upon their missiles, hoping to achieve a long-range ICBM capable of hitting the “Great Satan” of the United States.  They already possess short and medium range missiles that can and do hit Israel, and can hit parts of Europe.  The Iranian regime continues to fund terrorism and even has provided weaponry and drones to Putin in his quest to re-build the former Soviet empire by first reacquiring Ukraine in that protracted unprovoked war.

Each U.S. President over the last 47 years has fretted what to do to contain Iran.  Obama and Biden thought that they could make a deal with Iran by sending $1.7 billion dollars in cash to the evil republic and to ease sanctions.  They thought such appeasement might buy good will with the mullahs there and thus have a strong Iran as a counter foil to the Sunni Islamic nations in the region.  Of course, this didn’t work, as any Middle East expert could have predicted.  Iran continued to enrich uranium to build a nuclear weapon as they worked feverishly to develop an ICBM capable of carrying such a deadly payload to U.S. shores.  Indeed, “Both the Iranian negotiators said to us directly with, you know, no shame, that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60% [enriched uranium],” Steve Witkoff told Fox News host Sean Hannity, “and they’re aware that that could make 11 nuclear bombs, and that was the beginning of their negotiating stance.”

Trump has repeatedly tried to negotiate in good faith to create a deal where Iran would stop such work on nuclear weaponry and missile creation, all to no avail.  Because of the regime’s intransigence and absolute refusal to give up these programs, despite the U.S./Israeli attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities last June with operation Midnight Hammer, an ultimatum had to be made if the regime continued to refuse to make an acceptable deal to the rest of the world.  The consequences of allowing this murderous regime to acquire a nuclear weapon is unthinkable. 

The radical Shia as led by the now-recently deceased Ayatollah Ali Khamenei never had any intention of abiding by any deal with the U.S., had one been reached, as they have repeatedly proven over the decades.  They simply went through the motions of negotiating as a delaying tactic, much as Putin has done in his war with Ukraine.

These radical Shia Islamists believe the 12^th Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi Born in 868, who is a messiah-like figure to them will come again to restore “justice” to the world.  al-Mahdi is believed to have gone into a state of “occultation” in 874 A.D., meaning Allah miraculously caused him to “disappear.” Still alive, the 1,155-year-old Muhammad al-Mahdi is patiently biding his time to return and usher in the takeover of the Muslim and eventually entire world.

While such traditions may seem silly or harmless enough to westerners, Mahdism poses a serious, though vastly overlooked, threat to international security, primarily because its current articulation as propagated in Iran requires its adherents to take “proactive” steps to help usher in the Mahdi, most notably by initiating an “apocalyptic” showdown with the “greater” and “lesser” Satans, namely, America and Israel.  For a faith that teaches that to die as a martyr for Allah by killing western infidels is glorious, they have no compunction, let alone fear, of killing millions in order to bring back their messiah.  THIS is why ignoring the Islamic Republic of Iran and trying to make some meaningless deal with them is nothing short of ignoring an existential threat to Israel, the U.S., and indeed to the entire world.

Trump has so far insisted that the main objective of Epic Fury is to remove the capability of Iran to create missiles and a nuclear weapon.  Israel’s decapitation of the Islamic leadership has further given the people of Iran a chance to finally stand up and govern themselves as they choose.  This will not be a U.S. troops boots-on-the-ground nation building exercise.  It is incumbent upon the Iranian people to form their own government now – one that will hopefully decide to live as a peaceful member nation of the world. 

The fact that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of displaced Iranians in America, Canada, Europe, and throughout the world are celebrating the demise of this evil regime while thanking America and Israel for eliminating this grave threat to world peace should be telling in and of itself.  It seems that primarily only leftists and those that hate America, but then I repeat myself, think that the attack on Iran was wrong and evil.

Those that clutch their pearls and criticize American and Israeli actions on this either don’t know and understand the history with Iran and the evil that the regime has perpetrated, or they simply hate Trump more than they love their own country.  Often times I think both are factors.  As for me and some of the brothers that I served with that understand the cost of appeasing and ignoring Iran’s terrorism, this week is a very good one where the world is now a much safer place and the Iranian people can finally choose to be free once again.  The world’s largest supporter of terrorism, as our own State Department has long stated, will soon finally be no more.  I pray that this will also give me cousin some long-awaited sense of peace.